prepping for immerse west

A team of 5 from Adelaide, 2 from Sydney, and a host of WA crew will make for a brilliant combination in the upcoming IMMERSE WEST event!

This next week we'll be printing off copies of this manual for Trav, Christie, Ellen & Jess for the week of 8-13 July.

Ellen will lead us through the week, Christie will be helping with story-telling and Jess will lead the group with music.
The team will be flying to Perth from Adelaide next Saturday with Joy who will be helping out in the kitchen for the week-long camp.

It'll be a great experience  joining Matt and the team in WA with a group of around 80 participants - journeying through God's story together.  A particular highlight will be seeing folks walk through our new "mission experience" where they'll experience the book of Acts through the eyes of a follower of Jesus.

After the week of IMMERSE Trav will stay on to share with Woodvale Baptist Church on Sunday the 15th of July, then on for a couple of days of catching up with friends and family.

During the time Trav's away, Pix will hold the fort at home - with Brad attending a Youth Leadership Week, Tom hopefully picking up some work, and Jack and Fred going to kids club during the holidays.

Be on the look out for updates of the camp!

junktion coat-hanger high tea

Pixi was really pleased with big success of  Friday night's junktion coathanger fundraiser.  The partly refurbished shop was filled with around 30 ladies for a high tea experience.

Not only was it a success in raising $'s for the coathangers Pix wants to use for the recycled clothing, but it was really encouraging to see people catch the vision for a creative income stream for YMA, and for community engagement through outreach to international students and connection with local residents.

We'll keep you posted for when the shop officially opens!

shiftm2M in sydney

One of my favourite quotes at the retreat I was at this week was: "Jesus did the Father's work by the Spirit, and He invites us to do the same - He was not an exception, but the template." 

I love the way the priorities of Jesus provide incredible insight into how I can shape my own priorities in the work I'm involved in - and shiftm2M is proving to be an excellent space to help me think through this.

shiftm2M (ministry to movement) takes a group of 10-15 Christian leaders through the narrative of Jesus' time on earth over the course of a year.  It includes 50 readings through the gospels, listening to 50 related podcasts, and four retreats where the group meets together to explore how their discoveries intersect with the priorities in their own contexts.

Next trip to Sydney is in August - looking forward to it, but I've got a stack of reading to do between now and then!

double digits

Jackson enjoyed his 10th birthday yesterday - a highlight was when his Grandma set up his cake with trick candles ...

"junktion" keys

This week Pix received the keys for the corner shop next to the YMA office.  The wheels have been in motion for a long time to see her vision for a recycled goods/coffee shop opened in this vacant space.

"Junktion" will be a YMA project to enable an increased income stream for resourcing the YMA movement nationally.  It's also an opportunity to contribute to some of the community needs we see - particularly among international students from the local university.

Amidst the unsolicited donation of goods, commitments from people to volunteer in the preparation and running of the shop, the local council's acceptance of our application for a small start-up grant, and some great conversations with some local neighbours, we are confident of God's lead in the journey of junktion so far.  We're also expectant to see how He will continue to lead us and provide for this project.